All eyes have been on October 12th this year for what has been expected to be one of the greatest single days in the sport of college football. Fans however did not heed my warning that the 5th would be absolute chaos.

Alabama fell to Vanderbilt in a thrilling game, just one week removed from the defeat of Georgia. The Crimson Tide's defense looked dreadful, and their offense struggled often, throwing a pick six to dig their own grave even deeper. Jalen Milroe lost some stock in what he personally appeared to believe was a Heisman campaign brewing. Vanderbilt exposed everything about Alabama that for some reason the team from Athens could not. Quarterback Diego Pavia is a big reason why. His ability to read a defense and even confuse one was displayed last Saturday and the young Alabama secondary was playing catchup all day. Pavia brings his experience winning as an underdog from New Mexico State, where he twice was a 21+ point dog and won. Here, he did so again. Three wins at that point spread is the most all time for a single QB. The entire Commodore team earned this victory and their right to dump the goal posts into the Cumberland River after a night on Broadway.

The Tennessee Volunteers rode into Fayetteville confident after a win in Norman and a bye week. Tennessee felt on top of the world and their fans were letting people know. The feelings were short lived as the Arkansas Razorbacks dismantled and shocked the Vols. Arkansas won by a score of 19-14, scoring 9 points to Tennessee's 0 in the fourth quarter. While they made their comeback in the final minutes of the game, Arkansas got off to a quick start and left everyone of upset watch early. Their lead was 3-0 at halftime and the Hogs' defense stunned the Tennessee offense who has found nothing but success this season. The last time a Tennessee offense was held scoreless in the first half of a game was 2019 against the Florida Gators. The Volunteers only gained 76 yards in the first half which is surprising as they have averaged 566 yards per game. They found some rhythm scoring twice to make it a 14-3 game, but again the defense hunkered down and silenced the Vols the rest of the way. Arkansas' grit and resilience is the story here and Tennessee will have to hope to make the loss a teaching moment as they head into dangerous territory for the rest of the year.

Minnesota was a matchup nightmare for USC, and it was not hard to see coming. The Golden Gophers' defensive secondary is why they pulled out the win. Lincoln Riley wants to put the ball downfield and has much success doing so. The Gophers are not the team to do that against as they are the number one ranked pass defense, allowing an average of just 114 yards per game. Miller Moss threw for 200, but also threw 15 incompletions and was picked off twice. Minnesota was simply poised to beat a team like USC who is highly offensively oriented. The final score wound up close at 24-17 yet it felt very decisive. The relied heavily in the game on Jo'quavious Marks who rushed 20 times for 134 yards and a touchdown. The 6.7 yards per carry is roughly double that of what the Gophers normally allow. Perhaps there was a better strategy to be employed for the game. The Trojans are now a two-loss team and return home to face Penn State in an interesting game. I believe the final score may be a two-score game, but I believe this could be a close one overall, with the Nittany Lions on top.

Lastly, October 5th saw a rematch of last season's national championship game. The logos on the screen showing Washington's 'W' and Michigan's 'M' were about the only things remaining from that game. Both head coaches are gone. All star players either were drafted or transferred. This game certainly didn't resemble the game we saw last January on the field either. Washington won 27-17 in a game that saw a fun few lead changes. While many may see this as an upset, Washington was favored to win this game and I would have been surprised if they did not. I have been openly critical about this Michigan team, and I only saw my point proved by the game. The Wolverines are a team this year that is wildly undertalented for a blue blood program to ever put on the field. They have been that way longer than just this season. As I previously mentioned, this is a team that must learn to play the game all over again. Sherrone Moore is not doing that effectively right now. Moore, the head coach, is putting a dreadfully underprepared team on the field every Saturday and hoping something will magically change. It hasn't. Instead, Jedd Fisch picks up his first significant win during his tenure in Seattle and the Huskies pick up their second Big Ten win in the conference against one of its founding members.

October 5th, 2024 was a day of chaos as the number 1, 4, 9, 10, and 11 teams each lost with number 8 Miami almost falling. If you notice, I covered each of those top teams that lost except one. Can you name them? I bet you can't as they are not and never were a top team this year. The “number 9” Missouri Tigers embarrassed themselves on national television against Texas A&M and the game is barely worth talking about more than that. Miami however showed true grit in a 25-point comeback against Cal. Cam Ward is making me proud and I believe he will be the Heisman if Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty ever comes back down to Earth.

2024 might as well be 2007 all over again with the upsets, comebacks, and chaos that it had last week. This coming Saturday will be highly entertaining and maybe just as messy as the week before. Ohio State heads to Oregon in the game of the week while Oklahoma and Texas will meet again in Dallas, to which I am headed for right now. This weekend should not disappoint. Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be a fantastic and weird year.